


A Case Closed Carol

by solomonara



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: A Bit of Fluff, Christmas fic, Inspired by A Christmas Carol, M/M, One Shot, a bit of blood, post-Conan, rated M for violence not for sexytimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-05-05 18:39:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5386307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solomonara/pseuds/solomonara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With apologies to Charles Dickens. Shinichi is working way too hard and has zero time for Christmas or anything else, really. But a rather unlikely source is about to put him back on track...</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Case Closed Carol

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by [DragonSorceress22](http://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonSorceress22/works) which is appropriate as it is ALL HER FAULT. But if you like this, you should go read her stuff because it's better. If you _don't_ like this, then you should go read her stuff, because it's better.

 

 

Shinichi would not normally have said that December was a busier month than the other eleven. There was, after all, no season for murder (though there was some interesting research involving phases of the moon that he was going to look at as soon as he had a chance) and, if anything, the general masses seemed _less_ likely to slaughter each other in the face of the relentless good cheer that came with the holiday season. Yet this December was different.

Maybe it was that Megure was trusting him with more and more cases, not just the weird ones. Maybe it was that a certain gentleman thief seemed to be growing restless in the cold weather. Maybe it was that he was finally making progress building a case against the Organization.

Shinichi closed his laptop and massaged his dry eyes. On second thought, it was _definitely_ that last one. Regular cases he could handle with almost alarming ease; after having to solve so many mysteries in such a roundabout fashion as Conan, dealing directly with suspects and the police was hardly a challenge. And the Kaito KID's antics were practically a vacation - though Shinichi did wonder about the number of heists that the thief had pulled in such rapid succession right in Beika. It was almost like he was _trying_ to draw Shinichi out, though really he must be just about killing himself with such elaborate schemes staged so close together. Shinichi made a mental note to examine that thought a little more closely when he had time (any day now, surely).

Right now, though, the biggest fish on his line was, of course, the Organization. And this time they weren't getting away. He had just finished compiling a report definitively linking a few minor Organization members to real, solid, traceable identities. This could potentially be the foot in the door he needed to start prying apart the rest of the Organization, methodically tearing it down until he found the bastard that had... until he eliminated a dangerous criminal element and made the world a safer place.

To that end, he'd sent Megure the report right away. Megure was the one who had convinced him to take a legal route, documenting everything he could so that when the time came he'd be above reproach - even if everything caught fire and then exploded (Megure knew him well). He'd also promised the full support of Division One should the time come when Shinichi needed someone to vouch for him.

Shinichi opened the laptop again to make sure the email had sent. It had. There was no response yet. He sent Megure a text letting him know the report was on its way for good measure. He stared at his phone for a response for the full minute it took the screen to fade out before registering the time. It was midnight. Not only that, it was now December 24th. No wonder Megure hadn't responded.

Well, it wasn't like Shinichi needed to be well-rested this Christmas Eve. He had no plans. He shoved the laptop aside and trudged up the stairs to his room. Weariness, held at bay for hours by the progress he was making on his report, settled over his shoulders and neck, making each step heavier. When he reached his room and fell into bed, not even bothering to undress, he was already mostly asleep.

 

Exactly one hour later, the alarm on Shinichi's watch sent him shooting into a sitting position with a sharp intake of breath. He fumbled at his wrist to silence the insistent beep and then, with a sudden prickling realization, brought the watch up to take careful aim. _Someone was watching him_.

Dim light from the street flashed off glasses. One red shoe kicked impatiently against the leg of a chair - the feet in those shoes did not reach the ground. And the scowl on the face was disturbingly familiar.

"What... the hell?" Shinichi almost lowered the watch in amazement, but kept his head. "You can't be here."

"That's not a very logical thing to say," Conan scolded. "Seeing as how I _am_ , in fact, here."

"I'm dreaming."

"A little better," Conan said impatiently. "But you're going to have to get a bit more improbable."

Shinichi shot him.

The anesthetic needle hissed out of the watch and stuck itself in the cushioned back of the chair. He hadn't missed. The needle had simply gone _through_ Conan, who smiled.

"Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, let's get on with it. You're fucking things up, Shinichi."

"I... what?"

"You finally have your life back and you're ignoring all the important things. I'm here to get you back on track."

"What are you, the Ghost of Christmas Past?"

"Finally, you got something right."

Shinichi let out a startled laugh. "What? No. Come on. Aren't I supposed to meet Marley first? You're early. Go away."

Conan raised his eyebrows. "Do you _really_ want to meet the ghost of someone you know who's dead and have them tell you how horrible their afterlife is?"

Shinichi sobered at once. "No." Then he shook himself. "But I have no reason to think I'm not dreaming, so I'm not listening to _you_ , either. Good night." He was about to lie back down, but Conan leapt from his chair and onto the bed, quick as blinking, and before Shinichi could react, placed one tiny (very solid) hand firmly over Shinichi's heart.

Immediately, Shinichi felt a dreadfully familiar _pulse_ and gasped. He clutched at Conan's hand, trying to budge it with no success.

"You. Are not. Dreaming," Conan growled at him. "Now _come on_." He grabbed Shinichi's wrist and leapt into the air, flying right out the window. Shinichi didn't even have time to panic before he realized he was flying, too, defying an awful lot of physics as Conan dragged him along through the night. He looked down, intending to map their progress so that he could find his way back if necessary, but the city blurred beneath him, the millions of lights stretching into comets and the skyscrapers rippling like mirages. Shinichi felt nauseous and closed his eyes.

The moment he did so, he felt solid ground under his feet. He opened his eyes again, certain that he had only blinked, and looked down to see Conan tapping his foot impatiently. "We're here."

'Here' was Shinichi's old elementary school - emphasis on old. The school had had some updates since Shinichi's time (his first time), but they were all gone now. Shinichi noted a cracked windowpane - a stray ball had struck it during PE one day, but it had been replaced very quickly. That, and the general theme of this prolonged hallucination, made it--

"December 25th. My second year of elementary school. Let me guess: you're about to show me that time I found out who was leaving frogs in Ran's locker."

"You're so good at this. Maybe _you_ should be the ghost."

"Does that mean we can move on?"

"Nope. You've still gotta see it."

Shinichi groaned, but was propelled forward anyway, right through the wall into an empty classroom where he was confronting the culprit: a mean-spirited dullard who liked to hear girls squeal. Unintelligent as he was, though, the batrachian bully was quite a bit bigger than Shinichi had been - a fact the young Shinichi had failed to realize until this moment, when the kid had backed him into a corner, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and raised one large fist.

"You should keep your nose out of other peoples' business, nerd!" the kid said gleefully. Shinichi recognized the look on his younger self's face. It wasn't frightened. It was surprised - surprised that he could have miscalculated so badly, and already making adjustments as to how he would handle a similar situation in the future.

"And three... two... one," the older Shinichi counted under his breath. Right on cue, the sliding door of the classroom slammed open.

"Hey!" shouted a tiny Ran. She had an eraser clutched in either hand. "Leave him alone!" The bully turned his head slowly to look at her and laughed.

"Make me!" He'd barely got the words out when one eraser hit him square between the eyes, letting loose a puff of chalk dust. "Argh! Argh!" the bully yelled, releasing Shinichi to rub furiously at his eyes, which had gotten rather a lot of chalk in them. He sat down heavily, still scrubbing at them, and Ran walked over and calmly dropped the other eraser on his head.

"Is this the one who's been locking those poor frogs in my cubby?" Ran demanded. Shinichi nodded. Ran scowled and leaned down to make sure the bully heard her. "You listen to me, you jerk. If I hear about you putting anything else into peoples' cubbies, or their shoes, or their desks, I'll... I'll throw a hundred erasers at you! Got it?"

The bully nodded furiously, eyes streaming, and Ran smiled. "Good. Come on, Shinichi, let's go home."

She held out a hand to him and he took it, smiling back at her. "You know, we make a great team!" he said. "We should always solve mysteries together!"

"Ok! Let's stay friends forever so we can."

"Yeah!"          

The older Shinichi watched them leave the classroom with a frown.

"How sweet," Conan said. "Tell me, how's that working out for you?"

"I can't bring her in on the stuff I'm working on now. It's too dangerous, even if she did want to become some kind of mystery-solving karate champion."

"So if she can't help you solve mysteries you don't have time to be her friend anymore?"

"Oh please," Shinichi said with a scoff. "We're still friends. It's just..."

"You call her less now than you did when you were me."

"I don't know if she wants to hear from me. When I came back, she expected... and I couldn't... it's not the same between us," Shinichi said. But at the same time he was thinking of all the friendly texts from Ran on his phone, and the few missed calls, all of which he'd told himself he'd respond to as soon as he had the time.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Conan said in a far too light-hearted tone. "Ready for Christmas Past Scene Two?"

"Oh, I can't wait to see what my equivalent of Fezziwig's party is. Lead on, Spirit," Shinichi said.

 

The scene around them faded and then suddenly wind was rushing in his ears and Shinichi thought they were flying again. But no - his vision cleared and he realized he was in a helicopter. They were circling a clock tower and there, below, the face of the clock was rippling ever so slightly in the wind.

"This... this isn't Christmas," Shinichi objected, looking down at Conan who was sitting between him and the shadow of past-Megure.

"Budget cuts," Conan said with a shrug. "I'm actually just here to hand you off."

"What?"

"Have fun!"

Before Shinichi could say anything else, Conan shoved him right out the helicopter door. He was falling, wind tearing at his hair and clothes, heart doing its level best to ram its way out of his ribcage.

Then, suddenly, he wasn't falling anymore. The wind lessened and he was gliding, held aloft by a triangle of white - and a pair of strong arms.

"You can stop screaming now, tantei-kun," KID said with a decided twinkle in his eye. Shinichi stopped, but couldn't quite catch his breath. KID had caught him and was holding him bridal-style, and Shinichi's arms were flung about his neck in a very sure grip. He wasn't nearly embarrassed enough to let go - not at that height.

"KID?" he asked faintly. "You're... the Ghost of Christmas Present?" As soon as he said it he blushed in sudden fear that he was back in waking life, that he had somehow been drugged and pushed out of a helicopter and now this was really happening and how stupid would he sound if he'd just asked Kaito KID if he was the Ghost of Christmas Present?

But KID just laughed. "Bingo," he said. "Now let's go visit some friends."

The city did its best impersonation of the Milky Way once more and KID and Shinichi alighted softly on a sturdy tree branch outside Professor Agasa's house. With all of Agasa's windows, they could see inside easily. Agasa, Haibara, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta were all gathered together eating a Christmas cake.

"I hope you don't expect me to read their lips," Shinichi said.

KID snorted. "Please. I bugged the place earlier. Here." He handed Shinichi an earpiece and suddenly he could hear the conversation perfectly.

"...and remember the mansion with all the puzzles? Conan was so brave!" Ayumi was saying.

"Yeah. We don't have nearly as many adventures without him," Mitsuhiko said.

"Good," Haibara said flatly. "I'd rather stay out of trouble."

"But we don't have as much fun, either!" Genta pointed out. There was a general murmur of agreement from everyone except Haibara, who rolled her eyes. The conversation lulled and everyone focused on their cake for a few moments. Then,

"I wonder what he's doing now," Ayumi said. "Has anyone heard from him?" A general negative, while Haibara shot a glance at Agasa, who shrugged.

"What exactly did you tell them when you returned to normal?" KID asked curiously.

"I told them I - Conan - had to go to America with my parents. It's better if he just fades out of their life," Shinichi said. KID _hmm_ 'd speculatively. "What?" Shinichi said. "It's not like I could maintain that fiction for the rest of my life. I don't care if they think Conan's a jerk, I'm done pretending to be him."

"Sure, I understand that," KID said. "But does that mean _you_ have to fade out of their lives?"

"I know you're not suggesting I bring them along on cases."

"Definitely not - especially not to heists," KID said quickly. "But you know, those kids aren't bad. You sometimes think of them as slow since you could solve things so much more quickly, but that's not really fair. If they were actually in your class when you were their age, they'd have given you a run for your money."

"How do _you_ know what I think?" Shinichi asked, deflecting the observation.

KID grinned. "I'm _magic_." Then he glanced around and frowned. "Ok, we're running short on time here. The point is, do you know how thrilled they'd be if you turned up at this little gathering? If Shinichi turned up, I mean. But you told Agasa you didn't have time."

"I _don't_. I _am_ working on something kind of important here, you know. And besides, the less I associate with Haibara the better, given the things I'm digging into. There'll be time later."

"Yeah. Maybe," KID said with another look around. "Ok, we've got to go. Come on." He scooped Shinichi up before he could protest and leapt from the tree branch. Gravity deferred to his charms and they floated lightly to the sidewalk outside Agasa's gate. KID put Shinichi down, making sure he was steady before letting go, but still looking around like he was expecting something. Shinichi suddenly realized he couldn't see Agasa's house anymore; a thick fog had sprung up out of nowhere. It was even creeping up from either end of the street. It seemed to be getting darker.

"Hey, Shinichi," KID said, suddenly dead serious. "Listen to me." He put a hand on Shinichi's shoulder and leaned in so that Shinich could just about see under the top hat that always shadowed his face. "You have to--" But then it was as though someone had suddenly cut the sound in a movie. KID's lips were moving but Shinichi couldn't hear a thing.

"I have to what?" Shinichi asked. There was the sound of electricity arcing and Shinichi looked up. The streetlights were fizzing and dying. "KID?"

KID shook his head and said something. Shinichi felt like he could almost make it out, but it was as though KID was very far away, and possibly underwater. Then KID put both hands on Shinichi's shoulders to make sure he had his full attention, smiled, and said very clearly:

"It's going to be okay."

Then red blossomed across the white of his jacket, darkened the blue of the shirt beneath. The smile froze and then faded, as did the sparkle in KID's eyes and the strength in his grip. As Shinichi stared in horror, KID dropped to his knees and then fell to the side, revealing the hilt of a large, heavy knife pinning his cape to his back. The blood spilling into the street spread unnaturally fast, pooling around Shinichi's shoes, but Shinichi was already looking for the attacker.

There was no one.

Then, a footstep. Behind him.

Shinichi turned on his heel, raising the anesthetic watch even though he'd already fired the one needle it held. He dropped it again almost as quickly. It would be no use against this... this...

It was a wraith. Or maybe a dementor. A full head taller than Shinichi, it loomed. The cowl was deep and black as a pit, giving no sign of the being within it. Behind it, reality seemed to warp, bending toward the creature as though toward a black hole. It raised an arm - slightly longer than it ought to be, lending eerie proportion to the thing - and one bone-white finger protruded, pointing.

"Oh _hell_ no," Shinichi growled, finding his anger abruptly. Instead of turning to look, he reached out and grabbed a handful of the ragged cloth that shrouded the Ghost of Christmas Future and _yanked._ "I am _sick_ of being led around by-- oh shit."

The rags fell away, revealing a man. A man of ordinary size and stature. A man grinning unpleasantly at Shinichi. A man with long, silvery hair.

Shinichi took an involuntary step backward, slipped in KID's blood, and almost fell - but Gin's hand shot out and caught him by the throat. He held Shinichi off balance, applying enough pressure to bend him back slightly in a macabre approximation of a dancer's dip. When Shinichi gasped for breath, Gin's other hand clamped over his mouth. Shinichi felt something cross his tongue, panicked, thrashed - could not prevent himself from swallowing it. Gin laughed and pulled Shinichi to his chest, whirling.

Everything went dark and so very cold - and then the spinning stopped and Gin released him and Shinichi sprawled to the frozen ground, cheek grinding into hard dirt. Shinichi scrambled to his hands and knees, breathing heavily, waiting for the change.

But it didn't come. He was still himself. He cast a frantic glance up at Gin, wondering what could possibly be coming next.

Gin simply stood back, arms crossed, a smug expression on his face. "Take a look around, _detective_ ," he said, voice full of scorn. "See where your current path leads."

Shinichi got cautiously to his feet, using the movement to put a little more space between himself and Gin. He turned slowly - and almost fell right into an open grave. His arms windmilled to regain his balance as Gin cackled behind him. And on the gravestone - well, that was no surprise, at least. Kudo Shinichi. The date was even obscured. _Just vague enough to work_ , Shinichi thought disdainfully.

"Is this supposed to scare me? I know the risks," he said, though he couldn't quite bring himself to turn his back on the gaping hole at his feet.

"Oh, no," Gin said. "That's just us being prepared for the inevitable. You're missing the bigger picture."

Shinichi looked up and really looked around properly for the first time. They were not, as he had thought, in a graveyard. His empty grave was the only one there. The rest of the frozen field was full of bodies without the luxury of burial. It looked like a battlefield after a very one-sided battle - and his side had been the one to lose, for every last body was one he knew.

There was KID, lying lifeless just as Shinichi had left him moments ago, only now he was surrounded by Detective Nakamori and his entire taskforce. And there - Megure, Takagi, Sato, and a number of other Division One members. Shinichi wanted to look away, but his eyes kept traveling the field, searching out familiar faces. His heart clenched when he saw Sonoko and he knew that next - yes - there was Ran, and Mouri, both staring sightlessly at the sky. Hattori looked like he had been struck down trying to reach them.

It was the sight of the kids that finally broke the spell. Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Genta... and Haibara, her face frozen in an expression of utter terror. Shinichi tore his eyes away with a soft cry and began backing away, wanting to vomit. The soil, frozen a moment ago, now squelched softly with each step. Blood was welling up around his shoes. He didn't care. He kept stumbling backward - until suddenly he backed right into Gin and froze.

Gin didn't make a move, just stood there while Shinichi trembled. He seemed to grow larger by the minute, his shadow crawling out in front of him, reaching out to the grave that they both still faced.

"It's time," Gin said. "The poison has done its work. You're going to die. But first you're going to tell us everything you know about anyone you care about. You won't be able to help yourself. We'll eliminate them all, and you can go to your grave knowing it's your fault." Gin seized one of Shinichi's arms, twisting it up behind his back and shoving him forward toward the grave.

"No..." Shinichi mumbled. "I won't." He tried to dig in his feet, but the blood-soaked mud was too soft.

"You will."

Shinichi felt a sort of drowsy lassitude steal over his mind even as his body fought to remain alert. He wanted to speak. He loved answering questions. He would tell them whatever they wanted to know.

 _Oh no you won't. Fight it!_ The voice was faint, but familiar, and sounded full of confidence that Shinichi would do exactly what it asked. Shinichi bit down hard on his own tongue. The pain shot a spark of electricity through his mind and cleared the fog away. He tasted blood, but did not open his mouth.

Behind him Gin snarled and twisted his arm harder. They were almost to the edge of the grave now.

"Talk, boy!" Gin shouted at him, giving him a painful shake. "You will either way - it's just a question of how much pain I get to give you first."

Shinichi steeled himself, then straightened abruptly, throwing his head back to connect with Gin's nose. He almost wrenched his arm right out of its socket, but it was worth it because Gin howled in pain and let go.

But they were too close to the edge of the grave. The soft ground gave way and Shinichi slipped, right into the void.

This wasn't like falling from the helicopter, or flying through the air with Conan or KID. This was utterly silent and utterly still, except for the horrifying _feeling_ of falling right at the bottom of his stomach. He was just wondering how long his body could put up with that before he died simply of falling when--

 

Light. And sound. A regular, high-pitched beep was sounding from somewhere and it took Shinichi longer than it should have to realize it was a heart monitor. As he came fully awake, the pattern of the beep changed and he realized it was _his_ heart monitor. But he wasn't in a hospital. The ceiling was much too far away, and hospitals typically didn't have exposed rafters with lightbulbs hanging from them for lighting. And while hospital beds were uncomfortable, they weren't _this_ uncomfortable.

"You're awake." Shinichi had never heard a voice sound so relieved. "Hold still - this might sting a little."

Before Shinichi could even brace himself, a gloved hand entered his vision. There was a soft sucking noise and, indeed, a little sting of pain across his chest and forehead. Kaito KID had just pulled a dozen electrodes off of him. Based on the soreness on the back of his hand, Shinichi guessed he had also recently pulled out an IV.

"We have to get out of here," KID said. "Can you walk?"

"No idea," Shinichi murmured, his voice a little slurred. He swung his legs over the edge of the cot he was lying on, noting as he did so that his shoes were missing. So was his shirt. At least he had pants and socks. And a pair of headphones around his neck. For some reason.

KID pulled him to his feet, waited a moment while Shinichi took two tottering steps, then made an impatient noise and simply scooped him up. Shinichi let out a startled laugh that earned a look of surprise from KID.

"Are you the Ghost of Christmas Present?" Shinichi asked very seriously. KID's surprise turned to bafflement.

"...what did they _give_ you?" he asked.

"Oh, good. Let's get out of here," Shinichi said, and passed out in KID's arms.

 

"So let me get this straight," KID said. It was hours later and they were sitting on the roof of some building somewhere (Shinichi was not at his best and that was as accurate as he could be at the moment) reviewing the events of the evening as the sun came up. KID had poured coffee and water in equal amounts down the detective's throat and had produced a shirt, jacket, and even shoes in Shinichi's size from God-knew-where. Shinichi was feeling almost human, though he was still leaning heavily against KID. KID did not seem to mind. "Let me get this straight. You sent a document... unencrypted... containing damning evidence on the Organization... over a civilian internet connection... using _Gmail_... and you are somehow surprised that the Organization found you and abducted you in the middle of the night."

"Well..." Shinichi had told KID everything, from putting together his report to his experiences under whatever drugs the Organization had given him. It was too weird not to.

"They have... they have secure fileshares for this kind of thing! Intranets!" KID exclaimed.

"Ok, ok, I'm a moron. Fine. Tell me this, though, KID - how the hell did you find me?"

"Oh, well, I happened to be passing by--"

"You just happened to be passing by?"

"I _may_ have been delivering a heist notice. To you."

"Aha! So all of those heists back-to-back in Beika - you _were_ trying to get my attention!"

KID gave him a pitying look. "Don't be ridiculous. I've had your attention for years." Shinichi felt a blush creeping up his face and tried to stutter out a response but KID just continued blithely. "No, no. I was trying to get _their_ attention. If I had known it was as easy as sending an email..."

"You think finding all that evidence was easy? God, I hope Megure can still use some of it," Shinichi said with a sudden sinking feeling.

"I think there's a good chance of that," KID said. "I called him as soon as I realized what was happening. The Organization may have been able to read the contents of the report, but they weren't able to intercept it. He's already acting on it. You've only been out five or six hours. The Organization would have to move _really_ quickly to completely neutralize what you've found - and they were a little busy abducting you." KID paused thoughtfully. "And trying to stop me from rescuing you." He paused again. "And dealing with all the police that descended on their little makeshift lab once I found it."

"About that. I notice I'm not in a hospital," Shinichi said.

KID shrugged. "The police are quick, but I'm quicker. I knocked out most of the people in the building, grabbed you, and ran. Easiest heist I've ever pulled, actually."

Shinichi shared KID's grin for just a moment before a thought occurred to him. "Hey, KID. Did you see - was there a guy with really long silver hair? Maybe someone called him Gin?"

KID shook his head decisively. "Definitely not. Why?"

"Just trying to figure out how much of that hallucination actually happened and what my subconscious decided to toss at me," Shinichi said.

"They gave you some cocktail I've never seen before," KID said. "A combination of hypnotics and adrenal inducers, which..." KID shuddered. "But it looked like they were still experimenting with it, cause they were keeping very clear notes, including details on bringing the patient out of it. Which is why you are not currently still dreaming your way through _A Christmas Carol_."

"Yeah, that... I can't explain that," Shinichi said. KID made a small noise of agreement and the two were quiet for a bit, watching the sky grow lighter and lighter.

"I feel like I was supposed to learn something from all this," Shinichi said. "Like, make time for my friends and stop pushing people out of my life."

"That sounds like a decent moral," KID said.

"But it was the Organization that gave it to me. So... should I do the opposite?"

"Hmm." KID considered it for a few moments. "Well, you said yourself that some of what you experienced was generated by your own subconscious. True, they were dripping suggestions in your ear once they got you to the lab, but you were in transit for a bit while the drug was taking effect. Plus, from what I heard of the recording they were feeding you and what you experienced, it seems like very little of it got through - more, the longer you were under."

Shinichi nodded thoughtfully. "Then... I guess I do have plans this Christmas Eve after all."

"Oh?" KID's tone was light, careful.

"I think I'll drop in on the Junior Detective League," Shinichi said. "And Hattori's been bugging me to go out to visit him. I should schedule that. And stop avoiding Ran..."

"What about the Organization?" KID asked.

"I'm closer than I've ever been. I can do all that and still take them down. If..."

 "If what?"

"If... I have help?" Shinichi said, glancing over at KID. KID grinned back at him.

"You most certainly do. And... if you wanted... a proper date for Christmas Eve?"

Shinichi was so startled he almost fell off the roof. "You-- I-- But-- What? You're asking _now_?"

"Well I have to get my claim in before you go visiting Osaka. Everyone knows that guy wants to jump your bones."

"Jump my _what_?"

KID squirmed. "Are you leaving me in suspense on purpose?"

"Oh, um." Shinichi's brain fumbled around with the concept. The moment KID had asked, a _yes_ had rung loud and clear through the back of his brain, but the front insisted on saying things like _How would that even work?_ and _Professional integrity!_ But Shinichi was tired, and maybe still a little drugged, and possibly slightly caffeine addled as well as sleep deprived, and the back of his brain won. "Yes. Yes, we-- I would. Um. That would be-- uh. Yes." The back of his brain wasn't very good at being in charge, but KID got the idea. He smiled brilliantly and rose to his feet, offering Shinichi a hand up.

"Well then, tantei-kun, I'll see you tonight."

"When? And where?" Shinichi asked, rather curious as it seemed KID had something specific in mind. But KID just winked.

"I'll come get you. Don't worry. Have fun with the kids!" Then he leaned in and brushed a swift kiss across Shinichi's cheek before leaping off the building. Shinichi watched, slightly stunned and out of breath, as the magician under moonlight flew off into the sunrise.

 

**Author's Note:**

> God bless us, everyone.
> 
> ...and maybe help Shinichi find his way home.


End file.
